The present invention relates to a knowledge acquisition tool which automatically interviews an expert and extracts the knowledge of the expert for the creation of a machine-executable knowledge base.
Expert systems are being created today to allow the ordinary technician to operate at the level of an expert. Such expert systems are useful in a wide variety of fields such as medicine, building maintenance, automobile repair and the like. Even though such fields vary widely, expert systems which are useful in these fields have one thing in common, the ability to allow anyone practicing in the field to operate with the efficiency and knowledge of the expert.
An expert system guides the end user, who as mentioned may be an ordinary technician, through a problem solving exercise. The system provides information to the end user permitting the user to make intelligent choices among a number of possible alternative actions and to provide information to the system in order to elaborate those actions. For example, in the automobile repair field, the end user (mechanic) may be asked by the system to first choose among the major components of the automobile (engine, drive train, etc.) on which service is to be conducted. The system then progressively narrows the possible choices in order to focus upon the area to be serviced or the problem to be solved. In this process, the system may ask for input from the end user in order to present to the end user the most probable selection of choices or actions. Thus, the system may ask the mechanic whether the engine has 4, 6 or 8 cylinders, whether each cylinder is getting a spark, what the compression is in each cylinder, etc.
In creating an expert system, a knowledge engineer plays the active role of acquiring domain knowledge from an expert and transferring this knowledge to a knowledge base. The knowledge engineer is the creator of the knowledge base and the domain expert is the expert in the domain of interest whose knowledge is to be extracted and used to create the knowledge base. This knowledge base is then used as the foundation of the expert system to allow the end user to function at the level of the expert. The acquisition of knowledge from an expert by the knowledge engineer and the creation of the knowledge base are time-consuming and difficult tasks.
The present invention facilitates these time-consuming tasks by automating the knowledge acquisition and knowledge base creation functions. Such an automated knowledge acquisition tool has many advantages. For example, the use of automated knowledge extraction provides consistency in the interview techniques. Because knowledge extraction has heretofore been labor-intensive and time consuming, automated knowledge acquisition can be cost effective since it reduces the level of effort needed in the knowledge acquisition and knowledge base creation tasks. An automated knowledge acquisition tool allows the expert to progress at his or her own speed and at times convenient to the expert, unhampered by a knowledge engineer who may be relatively unfamiliar with the field.